René Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, Marquis of Argenson

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René Louis de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson
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René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, Marquis d' Argenson
Intendant French Hainaut
In office
1720–1724
Preceded byJean-Charles Doujat
Succeeded byFélix Aubery de Vastan
Governor of Épernay
In office
1727–1770
Preceded byCarloman Philogène Brulart, Comte de Sillery
Personal details
Born18 October 1694
Paris
Died26 January 1757
Saint-Sulpice-de-Favières
NationalityFrench
Other political
affiliations		Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
SpouseMarie Madeleine Méliand
ChildrenMarc Antoine (1722-1787)
Alma materLycée Louis-le-Grand

René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, 2nd Marquis of Argenson (18 October 1694 – 26 January 1757) was a politician who served as

Minister of War
from 1743 to 1757.

Life

René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy was born 18 October 1694, eldest son of

Minister of War
from 1743 to 1747.

His father was

Nobles of the robe, a class that formed the Second Estate whose rank derived from holding judicial or administrative posts. They were usually hard-working professionals, unlike the aristocratic Noblesse d'épée or Nobles of the Sword.[2] His grandfather and great-grandfather both served as French ambassador to the Republic of Venice
.

Career

D'Argenson qualified as a lawyer, and held successively the posts of councillor at the

Mississippi Bubble.[3]

D'Argenson returned to court in 1724 to exercise his functions as councillor of state. At that time he had the reputation of being a conscientious man, but ill-adapted to intrigue, and was nicknamed "la bête". He entered into relations with the philosophers, and was won over to the ideas of reform. He was the friend of Voltaire, who had been a fellow-student of his at the Jesuit college Louis-le-Grand, and a leading member of the Club de l'Entresol, an early modern think tank, the history of which he wrote in his memoirs.[4] It was then that he prepared his Considérations sur le gouvernement de la France, which was published posthumously by his son.[3]

D'Argenson was also the friend and counsellor of the minister

abbé de Saint-Pierre. But he failed to realize any part of his projects. The generals negotiated in opposition to his instructions; his colleagues laid the blame on him; the intrigues of the courtiers passed unnoticed by him; whilst the secret diplomacy of the king neutralized his initiative. He concluded the marriage of the Louis, the Dauphin
to Maria, a daughter of King Augustus III of Poland, but was unable to prevent the election of the Francis, Grand-Duke of Tuscany as Holy Roman Emperor in 1745.[3]

On 10 January 1747 Louis XV thanked d'Argenson for his services. He then retired into private life, eschewed the court, associated with Voltaire, Condillac and d’Alembert, and spent his declining years in working at the

Académie des Inscriptions, of which he was appointed president by the king in 1747, and revising his Mémoires. Voltaire, in one of his letters, declared him to be "the best citizen that had ever tasted the ministry".[3] He died on 26 January 1757.[3]

Works

D'Argenson left a large number of manuscript works, of which his son,

Marc Antoine René, Marquis de Paulmy, published the Considérations sur le gouvernement de France (Amsterdam, 1764) and Essais dans le goût de ceux de Montaigne (Amsterdam, 1785). The latter, which contains many useful biographical notes and portraits of his contemporaries, was republished in 1787 as Loisirs d’un ministre d’état. D'Argenson's most important work, however, is his Mémoires, covering in great detail the years 1725 to 1756, with an introductory part giving his recollections since the year 1696. They are, as they were intended to be, valuable "materials for the history of his time". There are two important editions, the first, with some letters, not elsewhere published, by the marquis d’Argenson, his great-grand-nephew (5 vols., Paris, 1857 et seq.); the second, more correct, but less complete, published by J. B. Rathery, for the Société de l’Histoire de France (9 vols., Paris, 1859 et seq.). The other works of the marquis d’Argenson, in MS., were destroyed in the fire at the Louvre library in 1871.[5]

Family

D'Argenson married and had a son:

Influence

In 1909, the anarchist Peter Kropotkin credited d'Argenson with making the study of politics, constitutions, and elective representation popular in the 18th century[6] and for being an early advocate of communist or communal possession of the land.[7]

References

  1. ^ "René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson". Geneanet. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  2. ^ Gasper 2013, p. 244.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911, p. 458.
  4. ^ René Louis d'Argenson (1857), Mémoires et journal inédit, Paris: Pierre Jannet
  5. ^ a b Chisholm 1911, pp. 458–459.
  6. ^ Peter Kropotkin (1909). "Chapter 2". The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793. Translated by N. F. Dryhurst. New York: Vanguard Printings.
  7. ^ Peter Kropotkin (1909). "Chapter 3". The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793. Translated by N. F. Dryhurst. New York: Vanguard Printings.

Sources

External links
Political offices
Preceded by
Adrien Maurice, duc de Noailles
Foreign Minister of France

19 November 1744 – 10 January 1747 		Succeeded by
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